Let the Fun Begin Again!

Contest         : CQ World Wide DX Contest

Callsign        : KL2R

Mode            : RTTY

Category        : Multi-2 (M2)

Operators       : N1TX, KL1JP, AL7ID

Band(s)         : All bands (AB)

Class           : High Power (HP)

Zone/State/...  : 01

Locator         : BP64KU

Operating time  : 25h53

 BAND   QSO  CQ DXC DUP S/P  POINTS   AVG 

------------------------------------------

   80     7   3   3   0   5      15  2.14 

   40    76  12  18   2  28     174  2.29 

   20   592  23  63   6  38    1701  2.87 

   15   531  29  72   3  48    1376  2.59 

   10    60  14  16   1  20     143  2.38 

------------------------------------------

TOTAL  1266  81 172  12 139    3409  2.69 

==========================================

         TOTAL SCORE : 1 336 328

This was the first trial run of our full-up M2 configuration.  Although N1TX lost half Friday night troubleshooting a network problem with one of the PCs, and we only had two ops here briefly on Saturday, it was a resounding success. Conditions were phenomenal, and all systems were stable throughout.  Loads of fun.  Welcome to new op John AL7ID!

Code-a-rific CQWW

Between October and March, my XYL Connie KL1BE will often ask, "Is there a contest this weekend?"  My answer is usually yes, and she responds, "Of course."  The query is merely perfunctory, and after all these years of gaining momentum, KL2R occupies my off-time a lot.  Having recently moved from engineer to paper-pusher at the office, I find ham radio more rewarding these days.  I can still get my brain engaged and hands dirty solving technical and method problems.

The weeks in and around November, of course, are filled with Sweepstakes, CQWW, and a number of other on-air sporting events proving to be quite popular.  I had mixed feelings about entering solo in CQWW CW this year.  I am always excited to do a CW contest like this, but how would I fare over the 48 hours?  I had been up since 2 AM Friday.  Never mind, though.  I got a late start after helping KL1JP configure some new equipment and software for the KL7FWX special event.  Twenty was alive with JAs and UA0s, then it tanked quickly.  15m was slightly promising to Asia for a while. I tried 40 with only a little success.  I was soon exhausted and had to sleep, but not before I set an end-goal of 1000 Qs and/or 500k points. 

I apparently missed a good 40m opening, but I started Saturday right with some good runs on 15 and 20, plus a few contacts on 10m.  I trudged on most of the day and night looking for good multipliers with the grayline.  The Middle East opened nicely on 20m late in the evening, and I worked Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Qatar.  Europe was steady later on.  Around midnight into early Sunday morning, 40m was just a blast.  I have never seen so many strong signals in 13 years working from Alaska.  I could snag many East Coast stations with one call, a rarity.  I worked into Japan, the US, and Europe simultaneously.  I had one anomalous contact on 15m with an S5 in the middle of the night on 15.  Weird.

At 0330 Sunday, I had to sleep again.  I had planned a three-hour nap, but I failed to set the alarm clock correctly.  I didn't get started again for nearly six hours.  I missed catching the early run of US on 20 and some more action 15.  I pressed on with S&P after only a handful of weak runs.  I found I could keep a rate between 45 and 60 per hour this way.  I had a 240/hour run the day before. along with several periods of 180.  In the end, I made only 3/4 toward my goal.  But with 761 contacts in the log and several new countries, I'm pleased with the results.  I worked ZL8X on five bands, a real highlight.  Africa, the UK, and Spain could have been better represented, but I think this time the path to that general direction seemed lacking.  Check out the Google Earth plots at the akradio.net website.  It was Worldwide fun, though!

SO2R and Multi-Two that Much Closer

What little time I spent in the shack recently was centered on getting the second operating position, KL2R-B, ready for a chance to try M2 in WPX RTTY.  Alas, a last-minute PC failure on KL2R-A and repair delayed operation in earnest until Saturday morning.  Dan KL1JP did much search-and-pouncing and rode the 15m opening pretty hard.  While he did that, I managed to get KL2R-B on line and Win-Test viewing the spots and the log.  After Dan left, I cleaned up a few and enjoyed working into Europe on 20m around 0600-0800Z.  Aurora and fluctuating Kp caused some declining conditions commencing Saturday night.  Conditions were never great on Sunday to the Lower 48.

Contest         : CQ World Wide WPX Contest
Callsign        : KL2R
Mode            : RTTY
Category        : Multi Operator - Single Transmitter (MS)
Overlay         : ---
Band(s)         : All bands (AB)
Class           : Low Power (LP)
Zone/State/...  :
Locator         : BP64KU
Operating time  : 14h31

BAND   QSO DUP  PFX  POINTS   AVG
-----------------------------------
  80     8   0    1      34  4.25
  40    14   0   11      60  4.29
  20   293   0  181     654  2.23
  15    61   0   39     141  2.31
  10     0   0    0       0  0.00
-----------------------------------
TOTAL   376   0  232     889  2.36
===================================
      TOTAL SCORE : 206 248

Dupes are not included in QSO counts neither avg calculations

Operators       : N1TX, KL1JP

CQWW CW - Quick Impressions

Conditions seemed, overall, quite decent for KL7 stations.  KL1JP reported incredible propagation using QRP on 80 and 40 meters Friday night.  No 10 meters was obvious in Fairbanks, but 15m proved strong from US/VE and JA.  N1TX took KL2R through the paces solo-band on 20m in low-power unassisted.  The EU C3 tribander proved its worth there. 

Alaska was well represented as a double multiplier for many.  NL7Z, AL9A, AL7R, AL1G, KL8DX, KL1JP, KL2R, and others were on.

Contest         : CQ World Wide DX Contest
Callsign        : KL2R
Mode            : CW
Category        : Single Operator (SO)
Overlay         : ---
Band(s)         : Single band (SB) 20 m
Class           : Low Power (LP) UNASSISTED
Zone/State/...  : 01
Locator         : BP64KU
Operating time  : 15h20

 BAND   QSO  CQ DXC DUP  POINTS   AVG
--------------------------------------
  160     0   0   0   0       0  0.00
   80     0   0   0   0       0  0.00
   40     0   0   0   0       0  0.00
   20   969  27  52  27    2250  2.32
   15     0   0   0   0       0  0.00
   10     0   0   0   0       0  0.00
--------------------------------------
TOTAL   969  27  52  27    2250  2.32
======================================
        TOTAL SCORE : 177 750

Running KL2R Solo With An Iron Pot On My Head

Larry was gone for the week and upon his return to Alaska, chose to operate at Rich Strand's station KL7RA in Kenai. Larry's absence from Fairbanks and the imminent CQWW SSB contest was enticement enough for me to operate KL2R solo and give those new antennas of his a methodical checkout. My strategy for the contest was to concentrate on acquiring multi's, EU stations and accumulate data on what antenna works the best and for what direction and time period. Little did I know the aurora would kick up into high gear, effectively throwing an iron pot on top of me and that the sun would throw off a nice X-Ray Class C burst adding to a growing list of challenges for my low power operation.

After initializing all the equipment and working out a few start-up bugs, I spent quite a bit of time simply listening…. switching between the Force 12 antennas – the NA C3 and the EU C3. I know that listening in a contest is verboten but heh… I’m testing here. The EU C3 had more noise than the NA C3 but the EU C3 was more sensitive to EU especially Russian and US west coast stations while the NA C3 was more sensitive to daylight JA’s and NA east coast locations. It quickly became obvious that working daylight JA’s off the back of the NA C3 worked better than the EU C3 direct. And, as I expected, China on 20m is still easy during the daytime on the NA C3. I broke thru both large pileups on the first call. Attempting to work the B1/BY3 stations on the EU C3 didn’t bring any results and both calling stations were much muted.

Playing the grayline in the afternoon with the EU C3 got me several stations to the south of Japan and the western coast of Africa (Cape Verde D44AC) to boot. D44AC picked me up on the second call. Tonga (A31KK) came in around the same grayline time period and on the first call. Add to those, both ZM2M and VK4KW which were logged on 15m on the second call. The VK station said we had a big signal.

As I mentioned, during the contest, the aurora kicked up to 9+ and as you would bet, from Fairbanks, the only stations that could hear KL2R where those immediately inside Mother Nature’s iron pot, ie… the aurora cap. Realizing the low probability of contacting lower 48 stations, I altered strategy and attempted to maximize my multi points so I switched to the EU C3 and started calling CQ on both 20m and 15m. Stations in Sweden (SJ2W), Norway (JW7QIA) and Finland (OH8L) came booming back on the first or second call. Surprisingly, even a few in Spain (EB1WW) and (EC2DX) came right back.

Philosophical speaking, having a short lived but high aurora period puts us northern low power stations in good position to pick up EU mults while circumventing the competition. Stations outside the auroral bowl usually have difficulty in being heard by the stations inside the bowl. As long as the aurora is short-lived, it is quite comforting to hear the flutter and realize the competition just dropped out.

In previous contests, the NA C3 usually had difficulty working into JA country during their nighttime. However, the new EU C3 worked exceptionally well into the JA nights on 20m. I had little trouble picking up any existing 20m contacts that I could hear from both JA land and scattered locations within EU. Russian stations RG9A and RZ3AXX came back on the first call. Both reported we had a great signal.

The new 40m dipole was actually disappointing. I expected more EU stations. Generally speaking, I had better luck with the older 40m loop. For example, I was able to get UA0IT on the 40m loop but not on the 40m dipole. The 40m loop is also much quieter and if nothing else, represents an excellent receive antenna. However and surprisingly, the 40m dipole works FB into Alberta and the east coast. I got VE6FI, VE6SV and VE6AO and VA3YP (Ontario) on the dipole – all on the first attempt. I now wonder if the 40m dipole is pointed correctly ? Time to dig out the compass and make some azimuth measurements.

Here in Fairbanks, the 10m band was non-existent. The 15m band was disappointing and full of noise. Usually, 15m contacts from SA were plentiful but not this time. I fought hard for my QSO with LS2D. Both 40m and 80m were disappointing and very noisy, probably due to the high aurora. I made only one contact on 160m and that was one I fought hard for.

Although I spent a lot of time testing, sometimes using one antenna to transmit while receiving on another, I still made 167 QSO’s with 30, 628 total points and was pleasantly surprised I did as well as I did with only 15 hours in the chair (had to work on Sunday).

Dan (KL1JP)

CQWW @ KL7RA

N1TX diverted to Kenai on the way home from DC for a bit of radio action.  Great to have a mini-reunion of some of the old Fairbanks crew from KL7RA, plus some new blood added to the team.  And a good time was had by all. Listen to some 40m audio here.

CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB

Call: KL7RA
Operator(s): AL2F AL7IF KA1NCN KL7RA N1TX N5XZ NL7Y
Station: KL7RA

Class: M/M HP
QTH: ALASKA
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
 160:   92     7        6
  80:  341    17       19
  40: 1592    31       71
  20: 3273    35      131
  15: 1525    32       86
  10:   19     7        7
------------------------------
Total: 6872   129      320  Total Score = 7,312,863

 

KL7RA - N1TX - NL7Y - N5XZ - AL2F - KA1NCN - AL7IF

Photos: KA1NCN